Jazz on Film

2:24 pm

Wed November 5, 2014

“If what I grew up with in South Africa is world music, I don’t know what it means. Perhaps it is to identify it as folklore. But what makes it separate? Satchmo said, ‘All music is folk music: I never heard a horse sing.’ The only criterion I have is whether it moves you.”

Jazz on Film

3:16 pm

Fri October 17, 2014

Jazz has found its way into Hollywood films since the early days of cinema. Big band and swing arrangements fit perfectly with the popularity of musicals, large productions and glamour that were ever-present in the films of the 1930s and 40s. However, by the time the 1950s rolled around a different kind of jazz was capturing the imagination in the country. The popularity of Bebop and Hard Bop and the birth of Cool and West Coast jazz gave filmmakers a totally different set of musical colors and textures to evoke a sense of cool, of grit, and even at times a sense of menace.